Season: 1
Genre: Action/
Adventure/ Comedy
Number of
episodes: 10
Year:
2019
Starring: Ellen Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert
Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Justin H. Min, Kate Walsh, Mary J. Blige, Colm Feore,
Jordan Claire Robbins, Cameron Britton, Adam Godley
Description: A family of former child heroes, now grown apart, must
reunite to continue to protect the world.
Review: Your adoptive father turns out to be an emotionless asshole, your mother
is a robot, the butler is an ape, you are chased by two time-traveling ‘bad
guys’ and you and your adopted siblings, with special powers, live in a big house
and are trained to save the world… The first season of “The Umbrella Academy” leaves
no stone unturned: another superhero show. It doesn’t have to be extremely dark
or overly cheerful. And maybe the biggest thing: It doesn’t have to be Marvel
or DC.
“The Umbrella Academy” is
about a family with seven children. All, but one, have special powers . These
special children were suddenly born in 1989. Their mothers were not yet
pregnant when the day started, and at the end of that dat they had a child. Sir
Reginald Hargreeves, an eccentric somewhat self-centered scientist, decided to
adopt as many of the 43 suddenly born children. In the end, he succeeds in
adopting seven of them. Confusing? Yes. And that’s exactly what the creators of
“The Umbrella Academy” want.
The seven siblings
eventually grow apart and when their father dies, when they are all adults,
they reunite. Number One, Luther, has super strength and due to the injection
of a serum he also has an extremely muscular appearance. Number Two, Diego, has
perfect aim. He is skilled at curving the trajectory of any object he throws. Number
Three, Allison, can control minds by saying the phrase “I heard a rumor…”,
followed by whatever she wants them to do. Number Four, Klaus, can speak to the
dead. Number Five is able to travel through space and time. Number Six, Ben,
can summon tentacle monsters. He often accompanies Klaus, because Ben is dead
and Klaus is the only one that can see him. Finally there is Number Seven,
Vanja, the outsider of the family since she doesn’t seem to have any special
powers.
A great group of people and
a good cast. Ellen Page is described as the top actor of the series, but somehow
is it she who makes the level drop. The slightly depressive, boring and monotonous
form of the way Page portrays her character is a pity. This makes her probably
my least favorite of the siblings. Of course she was written this way, but Page
can do better then this. And also her storyline is the most predictable of them
all.
Outstanding is Robert
Sheehan, as the eccentric, gender fluid and often filled with inappropriate
black humor Klaus. And I loved Aidan Gallagher as Five. He is very convincing.
Gallagher plays a 57 year old man in the body of a 13 year old boy (yup, that’s
how confusing everything is). And you actually see a teenager who thinks like
an older man. Really good performance. I think Five and Allison are my
favorites.
You don’t watch “The
Umbrella Academy” for the logic story. But the writers are also aware of that. The
absurdism is all over. The music and cinematography are very good. That ‘dollhouse’
scene, where all the siblings are dancing to “I Think We’re Alone Now” by
Tiffany is AMAZING! Or the dance scene between Allison and Luther. And that
fight scene in the cloth store, fantastic. Cinematographic this series is
outstanding.
The strange humor, absurdity
of both the characters, music, story and performances makes it worth watching.
It took me an episode or two to get into, but now I can’t wait to start the
second season. Which, I hope, will be even better.
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